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New Play about 19th Century Mormon Polygamy

As a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
I've always been both fascinated and afraid of the topic of Mormon
Polygamy. In the summer of 2012, after producing a play about the early life and conversion story of the prophet Wilford Woodruff,
I was
bothered that my research yielded so little information about his wives.
His personal writings had a remarkable lack of comment on his
relationships, and his personal feelings about plural marriage. I felt
compelled to take on a new project: a play about the perspectives of
Mormon women in 19th century polygamy.

Three
years later, I find myself finally transforming my research into a
play! This work will be presented in a documentary theater
style known as "verbatim theater," in which every word spoken by the
actors onstage is a quotation from the real-life person they are
representing. This type of theater has been used since the mid 20th
century to support and illustrate journalism and sociology--and has
typically been used to present audiences with
contemporary issues. Verbatim theater playwrights often interview the
people who will be represented in their plays. My work differs in that
because my characters are deceased historical persons, my quotations
come from journals, diaries, letters, speeches, and other 19th-century
publications.

Here's an example of a verbatim theater production (not about polygamy) to give you a taste of this theatrical style.

(This
video clip is a portion of a verbatim play about "casual
academics," that is, part-time, or adjunct university faculty. These
actresses represent interviewees who discuss the anxieties of this type
of work. I should warn you that this clip comes from a somber scene in
the middle of the play.)

Verbatim theater comes with
many artistic challenges. I found (and still find) myself asking, "How
do I turn quotations into dialogue?" "How do I turn the stories of many
women into a single story with a plot that is both compelling, and
simple enough for an audience to follow?" "How do I turn 150+ pages of
research notes into a play that's short enough for an audience to sit
through?" "How do I make each scene artful and entertaining, so that my
play is more than a bunch of actresses on stools taking turns telling
their stories?"

Working for solutions to these
questions has been an exciting and fulfilling process. Above all, my
goal is to answer my audience's questions about polygamy by cultivating
an experience that is

informed by the work of respected historians,

free from bashing of the Church or the historical persons portrayed, and

genuine, in that it doesn't shy away from the odd and sometimes
controversial experiences or feelings expressed in the primary source
material written by the faithful Latter-Day-Saint women represented on
stage.

The characters in my play-in-progress are a diverse group of
courageous, passionate, quirky, and devoted women. I can't wait to share
their words with you!